SAXONBURG — Less than four weeks before the Oktoberfest celebration, a proposed special event permitting ordinance before the borough council is causing a stir.

The proposal, which would, among other obligations, require organizers of special events to receive approval from borough council, the police department and the fire and ambulance company, will be considered by council Tuesday.

The proposal already faces stiff opposition from members of the business community.

Doug Sprankle, owner of the eponymous neighborhood market and organizer of the Saxonburg Oktoberfest, said while he understands the reasoning behind the proposal, he disagrees with many of the provisions. Chief among his concerns is a sense the ordinance, if passed, would impose an undue burden on businesses which wish to host events.

“The spirit of the law is to control more of these events, but it makes it financially impossible for small businesses to have these events without spending a lot of money and time,” he said.

Borough councilman Josh Novotony, who said he's part of the ordinance committee and helped write the maligned proposal, said he, along with council generally, have been incorrectly derided as opponents of area small businesses because of the proposal.

Novotony said although he has no issue with negative feedback to government proposals — “I don't like rules either,” he said — he has a problem with what he called falsehoods circulating online about the ordinance and its motivations.

“I wish every one of our ordinances got this much attention because it promotes writing a well-written, fair ordinance,” he said. “I'm not OK with how people online are being misled by a certain community page that claims to be news and community when it feels more like cronyism when they're out for the likes, and I guess that's what Facebook is all about. This is people in the community getting riled up for almost no reason at all.”

In the preamble to the ordinance, borough council identified “increased awareness of participant and spectator safety during special events” as one of the leading causes for the ordinance to be written.

Novotony said council has been working on the ordinance for some time, and much of it has been based on information gathered from other municipalities with similar ordinances.Sprankle said he has no issue with the reasons for drafting the ordinance, but argued it's written in a too-restrictive way.“The spirit, of trying to have safer events for the community, I love,” he said. “I love being part of that planning. The law should help people create more events that are safe. When I saw it, I was hoping this would be more of a guidebook.”Novotony conceded the draft isn't perfect as is, but said it doesn't need to be completely overhauled.“I truly believe all this needs is a slight re-write, and I'm not going to go into that further until I get together with the whole council and we have our meeting,” he said.Sprankle also expressed concern over being unaware the ordinance was being considered until last weekend, when he first saw the proposal.“While I was working with them, this was being worked on, and I didn't see it until it was brought to my attention over the weekend,” he said. “At that point, I had other businesses look at it and they saw the same things I saw.”

He also believed the law — intentionally or not — targets his and similar businesses.“Knowing that they're about to have this event, why have so much specificity in the document that point toward Oktoberfest, that point toward all these events that we do?” he asked.Sprankle doesn't want the proposal to detract from local businesses' positive relationship with the borough.“I'd rather spend my time with the borough figuring out how we can do stuff to help the community,” Sprankle said. “I'm hoping this is just a bump in the road, and I hope that the borough realizes that as well and that we can go back to working together.”Likewise, Novotony said he has been, is and wants to be, a proponent for the local businesses.“My goal is a thriving main street,” Novotony said. “I'm friends with most of the business owners in town. I want what's best for them, and I make decisions based on what's best for all of us.”But, he said, a lot of the online discussion regarding the proposal is not constructive or factual, and said he thinks those factors could inhibit positive, constructive work on the proposal.“To be called a fascist online, to be told, 'We have to stop going to Josh's businesses because he's a part of this?'” he said. “For the past 10 years, I've been nothing but a Saxonburg supporter. But I think we can agree it's good to have a well-written guideline for future generations.”